On the menu: Better nutrition

Rachel Repard, staff writer

Monday

Mar 26, 2012 at 12:01 AMMar 26, 2012 at 2:50 AM

Changes are cooking in the school lunch program. In January, First lady Michelle Obama and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack released new school lunch regulations that will increase serving sizes for fruits, vegetables and whole grains.

The new regulations are part of the first lady’s “Let’s Move!” initiative, which takes aim at childhood obesity.

The new rules, which will affect the meals of more than 31 million children each school day, are the first major revision of school meal standards in more than 15 years.

Changes are cooking in the school lunch program. In January, First lady Michelle Obama and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack released new school lunch regulations that will increase serving sizes for fruits, vegetables and whole grains.

The new regulations are part of the first lady’s “Let’s Move!” initiative, which takes aim at childhood obesity.

The new rules, which will affect the meals of more than 31 million children each school day, are the first major revision of school meal standards in more than 15 years.

School lunches, though not part of academic instruction, are still an important component of the school day, health advocates say. Many students eat both breakfast and lunch at school. And for some students, food served at school may be the only food they regularly eat.

Upping the ante
Area schools have been working hard to make their meals healthier, even before the new regulations.

“That’s always been my wish — for them to take more fruits and vegetables,” said Janet Elman, food service coordinator at Victor.

At Bloomfield, options like fresh fruit salad and side salads have made their way onto plastic trays.

“I think we have our kids eating more fruits and vegetables than pretty much anyone anywhere,” said Bloomfield Food Service Director Todd Fowler.

The new regulations don’t represent a paradigm shift in the foods offered; rather, they just up the ante. Now, instead of a half cup of fruit considered a serving, it’s a whole cup. And instead of fruit or vegetables being offered, now schools will be required to offer both on the same menu.

But increased servings of fruits and vegetables means increased cost, since fresh produce is more expensive than other, more processed food items.

Fowler is concerned that the larger portions will increase costs too much. The government will be providing schools with an additional 6 cents per lunch, but Fowler said that’s not enough.

“I don’t know if you’ve bought an apple or pear lately, but they cost more than 6 cents,” he said.

Risk
With the new regulations, cafeteria staff might require more training. But Fowler said, “I think the biggest gap will be in our student customers. Who’s going to train them?”

Although healthier options have been available in school cafeterias, up until now students still had the power of choice. Getting students to take the required increased servings of produce could be an issue for schools.

Fowler explained Bloomfield has tried using whole grain English muffins with their breakfast sandwiches, but kids didn’t like it. They reverted back to using white muffins.

And in Victor, they’ve been trying to perfect a healthier pizza with whole grain crust and turkey pepperoni, but the students weren’t responding well to it. Elman said Victor was starting to lose participation, so they brought back the white dough until they can find a better recipe.

Promoting health is a priority, but Elman said “if we lose meals, we’ll lose reimbursements.”

School districts get cash subsidies and foods from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for each meal they serve. If the students don’t take enough elements, like fruits and vegetables, the school won’t get reimbursed for the food.
But if students are forced to take food they don’t want, there’s also the issue of food waste.

If students, especially younger ones with smaller appetites, are forced to take more than they want, that extra food could just end up in the trash. Fowler said people have told him, “your garbage cans are going to get healthy.”

The regulations could cause issues with lunch line logistics, as well.

Fowler explained that under new regulations, “what legislators don’t understand is that a pear is not a serving, it’s a half serving.”

The simplicity of offering one piece of fruit and counting it as one serving is no longer feasible.

Fowler said he isn’t being a naysayer. He’s on board with kids eating healthier.

But, “all of this is coming when the economy is out of shape and food prices are the highest they’ve been in history,” he said. “It’s kind of a perfect storm for food service people.”

So does this mean no more pizza?

“Absolutely not,” said Elman.

Pizza with skim mozzarella, turkey pepperoni and whole grain crust will be making its way back onto the menu — whether the student body likes it or not.

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